of whom claimed, on his return, that he, and not his white leader, should have been the central figure of the public reception at Adelaide. "Me take 'em through," he said. However, Sir John was rewarded by the Government with £75, and "Billy" had to rest content with a mere £12, 10s. 0d.
Four years afterwards, the explorer led another, and a remarkably successful, expedition into the central parts of the colony, penetrating that immense tract of country from which flow the Murchison, Gascoyne, Ashburton, De Grey, Fitzroy, and other rivers falling into the sea on the western and northern shores of the continent. He had the disadvantage of travelling with horses instead of camels; but he persevered, in spite of immense difficulties, in a waterless country. He discovered a large area of rich grazing lands, and gave a full and most valuable report of the country traversed. The hardships and dangers still to be encountered in this work of interior exploration are shown by the fact that two years ago one branch of an expedition, which made a diversion from the main body, perished in the desert; and it was only after months of search that the bodies were found.
Sir John Forrest was the first Premier of the colony, and he still holds the position, though, for various reasons, every one of his colleagues has been changed. He has been most energetic in pushing forward railways into the interior of the country, so as to serve the gold fields; Menzies, as we have seen, having been reached last year, and great extensions, to Leonora on the north, and to Norseman on the south, being on the Government programme for this session. One of the prime necessities of the goldfields is an efficient water supply. When this is provided, hundreds of mines that are now idle, owing to the ores being of too low a grade to pay the heavy
